Myth and Myth Theory Research Papers

"Shakespeare, the Goddess, and Modernity" was conceived as a companion-piece to John O'Meara's other big collection, "On Nature and the Goddess." A measure of the close symbiosis between the two works is that the latter collection could... more

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- by John O'Meara
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- 19
  Shakespeare, Rudolf Steiner, Visionary Literature, Modernity

Questo studio si muove tra le pieghe del processo di formazione della 'biblioteca' di libri tradotti in tempi e in modi diversi nota come "Settanta", nel tentativo di individuare le motivazioni che spinsero i traduttori a rendere la... more

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- by leonardo marchetti
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- 9
  Mythology, Bible Translation, Hesiodic Poetry, Greek Myth

This chapter looks at the most common uses of the trope of antiquity in modern YA fantasy and science fiction and theorizes them as strands of what T.S. Eliot once dubbed as " the mythical method. " It identifies two strategies used by... more

If there is anything that radically set the 20 th century apart from what had gone before, it is the two unprecedented developments: the birth of psychology and the rise of the fantastic. The two processes were not unrelated: psychology... more

If there is anything that radically set the 20 th century apart from what had gone before, it is the two unprecedented developments: the birth of psychology and the rise of the fantastic. The two processes were not unrelated: psychology came in the wake of discovering that the human mind contains a dimension that is only partially accessible to consciousness. The literary fantastic, in turn, was an attempt to explore this dimension and its influence on the human mind. Both psychology and the fantastic identified myth to be foundational for their fields, either as a record of alternative modes of thought or as a narrative strategy hardwired into human cognitive architecture. One result of this rediscovery of myth has been the proliferation of myth theories. In this chapter I look at four approaches to myth that have not made it into the myth theory canon. These include Immanuel Velikovsky's euhemerist reading of world myths as a memory of cosmic catastrophes and near-extinction events witnessed by various human societies in the past; Julian Jaynes' proposal about Greek myths—especially those recorded in the Iliad—as narrative accounts of bicameral consciousness that preceded our modern subjective consciousness; Sean Kane's comparative perspective on world mythtelling traditions as forms of humanity's dialogue with nature; and Jonathan Gottschall's social Darwinist reading of the Iliad and the Odyssey that positions these texts as narrative testimonies of a struggle for Darwinian fitness within an exacting eco-cultural niche. Starting with a brief taxonomy of myth theories, their types, and contexts in which they emerged and functioned, I call attention to the fact that any theoretical approach to myth is inescapably mythopoeic. Theories of myth are attempts to recreate the meaning of myths once their literal account is " no longer accepted, " 1 and also attempts to identify the source and urgency of specific myths both to the people Züleyha Çetiner-Öktem. Ed. Mythmaking Across Boundaries. Newcastle, UK: Cambridge Scholars Press, 2016

Durch die Vorstellung naturwissenschaftlicher Bilder, welche aus Kontexten der künstlerisch-wissenschaftlichen Kooperation stammen, skizziert Luca Zordan Symptome einer sich im 19. Jahrhundert entfaltenden Ökologisierung. Der Fokus... more

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- by Luca Zordan
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- 20
  Visual Studies, Art History, History of Science, Natural History

Scholars are increasingly aware of the dynamic nature of the interaction between the nine-chapter long genealogy that begins the book of Chronicles and its source material. However, little attention has been paid to the role this... more

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- by Andrew Tobolowsky
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- 3
  Genealogy, Hebrew Bible, Myth and Myth Theory

This paper focuses on the subversive potential of myths by exploring Margaret Atwood's feminist revision of creation, more specifically the myth of paradise. According to Adrienne Rich's definition, the " revision " of myths signifies the... more

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- by Michaela Keck
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- 8
  Canadian Literature, Ecocriticism, Margaret Atwood, Myth and Myth Theory

Modern Christianity has failed to update its myths and has even eliminated them, thus, excluding the metaphysical experience indispensable to religion (Jung). Myths should be interpreted, not eliminated. Answering the question about how... more

Examiner's comments (abridged): Professor Louise Westling, University of Oregon (author of The Green Breast of the New World, and Sacred Groves and Ravaged Gardens): “Berry’s “Under the Dominion of Light: An Ecocritical Mythography”... more

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- by Geoff Berry
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- 28
  Semiotics, Comparative Religion, History, Intellectual History

L’assenza, nella più antica documentazione testuale egiziana disponibile, di ampie narrazioni continue e coerenti è stata a lungo oggetto di discussione privilegiato in merito alla definizione del ruolo e delle funzioni del mito nel... more

L’assenza, nella più antica documentazione testuale egiziana disponibile, di ampie narrazioni continue e coerenti è stata a lungo oggetto di discussione privilegiato in merito alla definizione del ruolo e delle funzioni del mito nel sistema di credenze dell’antico Egitto. La specificità e la problematicità del caso egiziano sono da individuare, nelle parole di Baines (Eg. Myth and Discourse, 81), in “the divergence between the ample attestation of many Egyptian deities and groupings of deities, and, on the other hand, the near absence of narratives about the gods that can easily termed myths”.
Rispetto alla straordinaria ricchezza affabulatoria della tradizione mitologica classica (ma anche ad es. mesopotamica), la qualità e quantità delle fonti egiziane - raramente esplicite e spesso straordinariamente frammentarie, oltre che distribuite su un ampio arco cronologico - ostacolano un approccio unitario alla definizione del fenomeno. In particolare, la scarsità di testimonianze per il III e II millennio a.C. ha fortemente condizionato la prospettiva egittologica in termini di messa in discussione dei modi e tempi del primo emergere del mito in Egitto.
Il presente contributo intende discutere il ruolo del mito nel panorama religioso egiziano più antico, in quanto parte di un più ampio discorso culturale; riprendere in considerazione il criterio della narratività come elemento qualificante il mito tout court; valutare i modi, le dinamiche e le strategie di costruzione ed elaborazione del discorso mitico nelle testimonianze artistiche e testuali del III millennio a.C. con particolare riferimento alla presenza, la funzione e il significato di elementi mitici nei Testi delle Piramidi.
In questa prospettiva, se da un lato l’assenza di narrazioni testuali continue e coerentemente strutturate non costituisce una negazione della possibilità che esse esistessero e circolassero in forma e contesti prevalentemente orali – la cui ricostruzione pertanto resta largamente al di fuori della nostra portata conoscitiva –, dall’altro monumentalità e performatività emergeranno chiaramente come parametri specifici entro cui si articola il discorso mitico egiziano ed elementi irrinunciabili per una più attenta e misurata lettura storica del fenomeno.

RESUMEN Una de las empresas más importantes del positivismo del siglo XIX fue la de edificar las ciencias sociales según el modelo de las ciencias naturales. El movimiento estructuralista creyó llegar a la plena realización de este ideal.... more

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Myth and Myth Theory

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